Struggling Gorillas face Brahmas at home tonight

With just five matches left in the regular season, the West Texas A&M volleyball team is looking to continue its perfect run through the Lone Star Conference.

The path toward another LSC crown resumes at 7 tonight against East Central (10-19, 3-6) in Ada, Okla., before the No. 6 Lady Buffs (25-4, 9-0) wrap up their final road trip of the regular season with a match against Southeastern Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Saturday.

WT started the road trip Tuesday in Portales, N.M., with a sweep of Eastern New Mexico, as Laura Prinsen and Melissa Harper led the Lady Buffs offensively with 14 and 10 kills, respectively.

With the postseason on the horizon, head coach Tony Graystone feels the Lady Buffs are right where they need to be.

"I think this team is starting to turn some corners and starting to look ahead," Graystone said. "They know the playoffs are coming and they have a lot more urgency, plus they know that most of the road matches are behind them."

Four of WT's remaining five matches are against regional opponents, which means those wins are critical for the Lady Buffs' chances at hosting the regional tournament.

In the last regional rankings, WT was ranked second behind Emporia State.

"We've just got to keep winning," Graystone said. "There's just nothing else we can do except try to put a lot of pressure on everyone else to keep winning as well, and we'll see where we fall.

"But we've got (four) more chances to help our cause and see what we can do about getting that top seed in the region."

By Dave Henry

david.henry@amarillo.com

The bad news is the Amarillo Gorillas have yet to win a game, sitting at 0-5-0 and the only team in the Central Hockey League without a point.

The good news is the team the Gorillas have come closest to defeating this season, the Texas Brahmas, are in town for a 7:05 game tonight at Cal Farley Coliseum.

Texas beat Amarillo, 4-3, on Friday. Amarillo out-shot the Brahmas, 42-32. All of Texas' goals came courtesy of the power play. The Gorillas' goals against Brahmas goaltender Brett Jaeger equaled the most goals he has allowed in a game this season.

Texas is 3-1-0 and in a three-way tie for the Southeast Division lead with three-straight wins. Forward Scott Sheppard, who had a goal in Texas' last game against Amarillo, leads the team with six points despite playing in only two games.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Gorillas were carrying three goaltenders on their roster - Sebastien Jonsson, Ryan Scott and Derek Dolson. Goaltender Simon Nielsen was placed on waivers Tuesday.

Amarillo hosts the defending CHL champion Arizona Sundogs for a two-game series Friday and Sunday.

Four-time Stanley Cup champion and notorious NHL bad boy Claude Lemieux has been working out with the Sundogs, eyeing a return to the NHL. Lemieux was not on the Arizona roster as of Wednesday.

Notes: Former Amarillo Gorillas center and CHL MVP Derek Hahn was named a member of the Canadian National Team that will participate in early November in the 2008 Deutschland Cup. The tournament includes national teams from Canada, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany. Hahn, currently playing in Germany, was the 2005-06 CHL MVP and league scoring champ.